New Heading
by Razzle and Lysana
Summary: What if there were two of Kathryn Janeway, and two of every Voyager crewmember? The biomimetic crew from the Demon planet are brought back to life by Q after the episode 'Course: Oblivion.' Many adventures follow! It's like another Star Trek TV series!


New Heading

Chapter 1: Rebirth

Acting Captain Harry Kim had never felt such grief in his life. He tried to will the ship to hold itself together long enough for the original _Voyager_ to reach them. He didn't even know what he would say to them. There were so many things he could say, and so much that had to be said. He couldn't recite their entire ship's logs in the few seconds he might have.

He didn't have the chance to try. The biomimetic _Voyager_ disintegrated into drops of silver blood, moments before the original _Voyager_ came within hailing distance.

_I'm sorry..._ Harry thought, just before he faded into oblivion.

-

The stabbing sense of hopelessness was overwhelmed by a growing feeling of confusion as Harry found himself in warm, familiar surroundings.

"What's going on?" B'Elanna asked in confusion, looking around at the rocky landscape of the Demon planet. "Tom?" she called, staring wildly around at the _Voyager_ crew just as Harry started to fully realize that they were all there. He caught Captain Janeway's eye, and could tell from her protective expression that she had already assured herself of the presence of every last crewmember.

"B'Elanna!" Tom pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring everything else around him in his drive to reach her. He grabbed her into a tight embrace, clearly unwilling to lose her again. "Oh, God! You're alive!"

Harry was overjoyed to see his friend happy again. It had been so painful watching him lose B'Elanna. Tom had seemed half-dead himself after his wife died. Seeing them alive and well, together again, was indescribably wonderful.

A short distance away, _Voyager_ stood tall and proud behind Tom and B'Elanna, reflecting the warm red and gold hues of the planet off of its shining, undamaged hull.

The sight lifted Harry's spirits still further. He turned to face Captain Janeway, standing respectfully at attention. "Captain," he said formally, "I'm happy to relinquish command of _Voyager_ back to you." He thought of _Voyager_ as she had been during their desperate race to get back here: literally falling to pieces as she flew, with patches of silver blood valiantly holding the ship together where bulkheads, walls, and entire sections of the hull had disappeared...

"It sounds silly to say it, but... she fought well for us, Captain."

"I know," Kathryn Janeway said warmly, her voice filled with a captain's affection and admiration for her ship. "I saw most of it."

She turned her appreciation directly onto Harry. "You also fought bravely," she said. "Well done, Ensign Kim."

Harry realized the captain was right. As much responsibility as he had felt for failing to reach the other _Voyager_ in time, he knew he had tried as hard as he could -- as had the entire crew. "Thank you, Captain," he said gratefully.

Tom reached up and brushed some hair back from B'Elanna's face, staring at her in wonder. "How did we get back here?" he said, voicing the confusion that Harry was sure every one of the _Voyager_ crew still felt.

There was a flash of white light, and Q appeared. He spread his hands, grinning from ear to ear. "Ta-da!"

Everyone stared at Q in surprise.

"I used my powers to bring you all back here," Q answered Tom seriously. He was obviously in one of his more respectful moods.

"Wait a minute," B'Elanna said, fixing her eyes on Q. "This is the planet with the silver blood that made copies of all of us. You brought us back thousands of light years into the Delta Quadrant, to a planet we visited months ago? Why?"

Ensign Vorik had an answer ready. "Since we are standing here on this Class Y planet without environmental suits, it is logical to conclude that _we_ are the biomimetic copies."

B'Elanna looked at Vorik in disbelief. "What?"

"He's right," Tom said. "We only found out about it after you died."

"That's exactly why I did it," Q said, still very seriously. "I must admit, it was heartbreaking to watch you all dying one by one when you were fighting so hard for your race to survive."

Q looked at Captain Janeway. "And I saw what you and your crew did at that other Class Y planet with the mining operation, Kathryn. You could have saved yourselves then at the expense of others, but you didn't."

Harry recalled that desperate incident. He remembered being proud of his captain's decision not to destroy the alien mining ship that had forbidden them to land and take shelter on the planet.

Q went on, addressing the entire crew again, "I wanted to see you get the chance to live out your lives, not die of something that wasn't your fault. So I gathered up every single drop of the silver blood from where it was floating in space after your ship was destroyed. I brought you all back here and restored you to your own forms, as good as new."

Ensign Harper, who was already clutching her baby in her arms with the singleminded devotion of any new mother, suddenly panicked. "But my baby's not fully biomimetic! His father --" She ran to the Doctor, who had already taken his medical tricorder out.

With an expression of professionally suppressed concern, the Doctor hurriedly scanned the baby's vital signs. "All life signs show normal," he said in open relief.

"O ye of little faith!" Q lifted his eyes heavenward, as if looking for patience. "Why does everyone think I can't pay attention to details like that?" He disappeared and instantly reappeared next to Ensign Harper. "Don't worry, your baby's fine," he said. "You're all fine."

True gratitude shone in Kathryn Janeway's eyes. "Thank you, Q. We owe you our lives."

"I'm only glad I could be of service," Q said, amazingly humble. Without another word, he disappeared in a flash of light.

-

Kathryn Janeway turned immediately to her chief engineer. "B'Elanna, I'll need you to take a team of engineers and dismantle the new warp core enhancement. The kind of radiation it puts out is dangerous to our kind of life form."

"Aye, Captain," B'Elanna said promptly.

"Let me know as soon as you've finished," Janeway told her. Then she eyed the crew sternly. "No one else is to board _Voyager_ until then. Is that clear?"

Having addressed the immediate safety concerns for her crew, she decided that it would be a good idea to address their morale.

"Neelix," Janeway said crisply.

"Here, Captain!" Neelix said respectfully, as reliable as ever.

Janeway smiled appreciatively. "I want you to make sure the crew is holding up well. We've all been through quite an experience, and emotions are sure to be frayed."

Neelix nodded, regarding her as seriously as he had when she had promoted him to Chief Medical Officer during the emergency, but much more happily. "Yes, Captain," he said.

Janeway looked over at the Doctor, who was still standing a short distance away next to Ensign Harper and her baby. "Doctor," she called to him. "How much do we know about our species?"

The Doctor looked thoughtful, considering her question. "Medically speaking, not much yet. Once I run a full scan on the entire crew, I'll be able to cross-reference it and have a better understanding of how our bodies work."

"Do it!" Janeway agreed. Turning to Tom Paris, she added, "Tom, I'd like you to assist him."

Captain Janeway focused her attention on the rest of the crew. "Everyone else, you're with me. We're going to do a little exploring. I want to find out as much about this planet as we can."

-

Tom and B'Elanna pried themselves apart. "See you soon, Tom," B'Elanna said briskly.

"Yeah..." Tom said, in an undertone meant only for her. He understood and appreciated the promise she was making him to return safely. "See you." He turned around. "Well, Doc," he said, "I guess we'd better get to work. What do you want me to do?"

"I'm already working, Mr. Paris," the Doctor said over his shoulder, preparing to scan one of the nearest crewmembers. "But I could use your assistance." He handed Tom a spare medical tricorder.

Meanwhile, B'Elanna and her engineering team of Vorik, Seven of Nine, and Lieutenant Joe Carey were already on their way toward the nearest airlock to board _Voyager_. Several yards away to the side, Tom could hear Neelix singing a rather loud Talaxian lullaby for Ensign Harper and her chortling baby.

The Doctor finished scanning the first crewmember. "Thank you, Ensign."

As the ensign hurried off to join Captain Janeway and the others, the Doctor turned to Tom with his instructions. "First we'll need a full scan of all their humanoid vital signs: respirations, heart rate, body temperature, and brain activity. Then I want to run a check on molecular stability, as well as getting an accurate reading of everyone's exact deuterium and dichromate levels. Let's also see if we can track down any other unique characteristics of our species, such as our ability to adapt to multiple environments. As I recall, you and Mr. Kim were having some trouble _breathing_ on board the original _Voyager_ at first."

"I'll say! I didn't know _what_ was going on," Tom agreed emphatically, as he and the Doctor each began taking tricorder readings of another crewmember.

-

"Come on, guys," B'Elanna said, striding into Engineering with her team right behind her. "Let's get started tearing out this warp core enhancement."

Seven had already taken out her tricorder and was busy scanning the warp core as B'Elanna spoke.

Vorik looked at B'Elanna, all cool Vulcan logic, and said, "We must proceed with extreme caution. The enhanced warp core is a danger not only to us but to the entire planet."

"My God," Joe Carey said, staring at the dispassionate ensign with a look of frozen horror. "It's just like having an armed nuclear warhead on Earth, back when people were still using them."

B'Elanna nodded tersely. "Right, then. Let's get to work."

-

Neelix was busy helping the crew with their morale, not that they needed much help. Just being back on the planet seemed to be very comforting to them.

_Not just comforting. Exciting, too,_ Neelix thought happily. He certainly felt it himself. The air felt as fresh and clean as anything Neelix had ever breathed, and the sun was warm on his shoulders and the top of his head. The dust of the planet hung in the air all around, and puffed up in swirling little clouds around people's feet where they walked. It sparkled in the air like magic pollen from an old Talaxian fairy tale.

Neelix decided that it was high time to go and talk to Tuvok. He looked around for the Vulcan, and spied him just coming away from Tom and the Doctor after his medical exam. Neelix hurried to intercept him.

"Tuvok!"

Tuvok stared reproachfully at Neelix. "If you are here to check on my 'feelings,' then your efforts are misguided. I am a Vulcan. You would do better to address the morale of the other crewmembers."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Neelix explained. "Vorik seems distracted. He's much younger than you, and I don't think he's had as much experience with your Vulcan disciplines."

Tuvok raised an eyebrow at Neelix's choice of words, since the entire biomimetic crew had been created by the silver blood at approximately the same time. "Technically, Ensign Vorik and I are the same age. However, I do see your point. I will consider it."

"I only know how to evoke emotions -- positive ones, but with Vulcans that's still not very helpful," Neelix pointed out, thinking of the disastrous consequences if he were to try to get Vorik to share his feelings.

"Indeed," Tuvok agreed solemnly. He seemed to be thinking along similar lines.

Neelix nodded encouragingly and continued. "You should go and help him be logical, Mr. Vulcan. He doesn't have anyone to look up to but you."

Tuvok suppressed a sigh. "Very well. I will speak to him when his duty shift ends."

Neelix grinned at Tuvok and said, "I knew I could count on you, Mr. Vulcan!"

"Hey, Neelix!" Tom called, waving at him. "It's your turn!"

Neelix rushed obligingly over to Tom Paris for his medical scan. Next to them, the Doctor was in the middle of scanning Crewman Yosa.

"So, Mr. Paris," Neelix said cheerfully, as Tom started to take his readings. "What have you and the Doctor found out so far?"

"We're starting to piece together an explanation of how we can do things like breathe in an M-Class atmosphere now," Tom said. "Apparently, our bodies have been able to copy the original crew's DNA patterns in more detail than before."

"But how is that possible?" Neelix asked curiously.

"The information was already there. We've just been developing it over the past several months." Tom looked thoughtful, searching for an analogy. Finding it, he looked squarely at Neelix. "Like a baby developing in its mother's womb."

"Next!" the Doctor called jauntily.

A lieutenant from the science division responsibly stepped forward and took her place to be scanned. Neelix recognized Lieutenant Rosa Weiss. He had seen her often in the background, but she didn't talk much. She had always reminded him somewhat of Kes.

"So how are things going on your end, Neelix?" Tom asked.

"Great!" Neelix replied enthusiastically. "Everyone seems to be having a wonderful time, actually."

Tom smiled. "And here I thought it was just me, getting to see B'Elanna again." He finished scanning Neelix and turned to another crewmember who was patiently waiting for his turn. "See you, Neelix," Tom said over his shoulder.

Neelix turned to leave. Behind him, he heard the Doctor dismissing his own patient. "Thank you, Lieutenant Weiss."

-

B'Elanna stood in front of the warp core, focusing intently on it as her hands flew across the control panel. "Vorik, hand me the coil spanner, will you?" Never turning away from her work, she reached out to the side. Vorik placed the instrument into her hand.

There was a grandiose flash of light, and suddenly Q appeared, standing right behind B'Elanna. "What are you doing now?" he asked, craning his neck to peer curiously over her shoulder.

"Aren't you supposed to be the one with the really big IQ?" B'Elanna asked rhetorically. "And you don't know enough to stay out of my way when I'm working?"

"Well, if you don't _want_ my help..." Q said, in a tone of wounded generosity.

B'Elanna rounded on Q. "Look!" she snapped. "I'm grateful. I really am. But _please_, if you don't mind, could you just back off?!"

"Fine," Q said grandly. He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of white light.

B'Elanna sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. She hadn't expected it to work that well.

"We are ready up here, Lieutenant," Seven called down from the upper level.

"Great!" B'Elanna grabbed the handrail, lowered herself to the floor, and opened up a panel underneath the console. She glanced at Vorik, who was kneeling beside her, ready to assist. "Well, here comes the tricky part."

Joe Carey's voice sounded nervously from the upper level of Engineering where he was working with Seven. "Activating the phase compensator... now."

B'Elanna felt an intense adrenaline surge as her Klingon hunting instincts kicked in, working in harmony with her Engineering skills. Now the instincts that had helped her ancestors track and kill prey undetected allowed her to manipulate the warp drive components without making something explode. She sensed that the others were each as keenly focused on their own tasks as they worked flawlessly together.

-

Chakotay jogged over a rise in time to see Captain Janeway and a young female ensign crouched excitedly over a rock formation, as they began to scan it with their tricorders.

"I'm reading high concentrations of deuterium in these rocks," Ensign Jenkins reported. "In fact, I'm reading deuterium in virtually everything."

"Of course," the biomimetic Captain Janeway said, obviously thinking back to some of the earliest memories of her own sentient lifetime. "I remember we helped the original _Voyager_ crew find sources of deuterium to refuel their ship, after they allowed us to copy them."

"Captain, we've run across a subterranean cave formation," Chakotay reported happily. "Ensign Kyoto, Tabor, and I found it while we were exploring."

Kathryn Janeway looked up, her eyes alight with interest. "Just where is this cave system?"

"About half a kilometer that way," Chakotay said, pointing back over the rise. "When I left to come find you, Ensign Kyoto and Tabor were measuring seismic activity from the miniature volcanoes."

Janeway grinned, bouncing to her feet. "Sounds exciting! Lead the way." As Ensign Jenkins stood up and they prepared to follow Chakotay, Janeway's combadge beeped.

"Torres to Captain Janeway."

"Janeway here," the captain said, tapping her combadge. "Go ahead, B'Elanna."

"We've finished restoring the warp core to its original specifications, Captain," B'Elanna's voice said over the comlink, sounding relieved. "We've run a complete scan of the entire ship, and there's no trace of any subspace radiation."

"That's what I wanted to hear," Captain Janeway replied, putting her hands on her waist and nodding once to herself in satisfaction.

She tapped her combadge again, causing it to emit a short series of clicks and beeps. "Captain to all hands. The warp core enhancement has been removed. Report back to _Voyager_ within the hour."

Janeway gave Chakotay a resigned look. "I suppose your caves will have to wait."

-

Naomi Wildman had always wanted to be the Captain's Assistant. But when people had started getting sick and dying all over the ship, Naomi had realized right away that for as long as she could, she had better be _everybody's_ assistant.

Now that they were all safe again and back on the planet they came from, there was still a lot of work to be done. Naomi thought she had better do the same thing again.

Naomi walked briskly along the corridor, passing various other crewmembers who were hurrying in all directions to their workstations. She entered a turbolift. "Bridge," she stated.

The turbolift hummed briefly, then stopped. The doors slid open and Naomi stepped out onto the Bridge.

Harry looked up from where he was standing at Ops and smiled. "Hi, Naomi," he said.

Naomi nodded politely. "Harry," she said, pleasantly returning his greeting. Then she marched straight into the captain's ready room as the doors whooshed open in front of her.

"Reporting to _Voyager_ as ordered, Captain. What's my assignment?" she asked formally.

Captain Janeway nodded as if she'd been expecting Naomi. "I'd like you to work with Seven in Astrometrics. See if you can help her figure out a way to use the Astrometrics scanners from our position here on the planet's surface."

"Right, Captain," Naomi said with a nod.

The captain tapped her combadge. "Janeway to Seven of Nine."

"Yes, Captain."

Naomi could tell from the satisfaction in Seven's voice that she was already in the Astrometrics lab.

"Seven, I'm sending Naomi Wildman to work with you," Captain Janeway continued. "I want to see what the two of you can come up with together."

"Acknowledged, Captain." Seven sounded pleased.

Captain Janeway smiled at Naomi. "Dismissed," she said briskly.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Naomi said enthusiastically. She turned and rushed out of the ready room, eager to get to work.

-

To Harry's left, there was a flounce of blond hair and the whoosh of the turbolift doors as Naomi left, and the Bridge was quiet once again.

Harry glanced at the viewscreen, which showed the welcoming landscape of their home planet. For a second, he couldn't imagine ever wanting to leave.

Then he thought about his life as a Starfleet officer. He looked down at his station. He was still an explorer at heart. Not just because he had the original Harry Kim's memories, but because of the natural curiosity of his own species.

He ran a hand along the side of his console. Harry wondered if he would ever get the chance to see Earth.

-

"Ensign Vorik."

Vorik, along with B'Elanna, Seven of Nine, and Lieutenant Carey, was just leaving Engineering. The captain had dismissed them early from their duty shift because of the dangerous task they had completed. As the others dispersed, Ensign Vorik turned to Tuvok and lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. "Commander," he said. "I am sorry. I did not see you there."

"A word with you," Tuvok began. "I am concerned about how you have been coping with the pressure you have been under during recent events. If I may inquire, have your meditations been helpful to you in this regard?"

"I have not been meditating," Vorik told him unexpectedly, with a slight shake of his head. "I have many duties to perform, and they must take priority.

Tuvok looked at him sternly. "That is not logical. I trust you have at least been sleeping and eating regularly?"

Vorik looked surprised. "Of course. I must be at my best to perform my duties well." He paused. Then he composed himself, drew himself up straighter, put his hands behind his back, looked directly at Tuvok, and said, "Thank you, sir. I now understand the flaw in my logic."

Tuvok nodded, satisfied. "Very well. Dismissed, Ensign."

Vorik turned and walked away in the direction he had originally been going. Tuvok decided to go make sure that the captain was taking care of herself properly as well.

-

Tom and B'Elanna were arguing in their quarters.

"I lost you once. I'm not ready to lose you again," Tom said hotly, his voice filled with grief. He couldn't believe B'Elanna wanted to leave again, now that they were safely back on their home planet. Especially after what had happened the first time _Voyager_ had attempted to leave.

With a frustrated growl, B'Elanna threw her Engineering jacket at a wall. She turned back to glare at him and shouted, "Do you think I want to spend the rest of my life on this rock?" B'Elanna's voice softened, and when she spoke again it was like she was speaking directly to Tom's heart. "I'm scared too, Tom. I'm scared to death. But we're still explorers."

Tom looked at her for a long time, then he sighed. "You're right," he said simply.

-

Captain Janeway stared at the five or six datapadds that were scattered across the top of her ready room desk, each one silently clamoring for her attention.

"I need a cup of coffee." What with the tragedy they had all just been through, the shock of finding herself and her crew suddenly alive again, and Q -- however much they all owed to him -- going around sticking his nose in _everything_, Kathryn Janeway was beginning to feel as if that cup of coffee might hold the cure for all the world's ills.

Tuvok looked at her responsibly from where he was standing on the other side of her desk. "What you need, Captain, is rest."

"That's a very good idea, Tuvok." She shook her head thoughtfully. "Didn't we have a conversation like this once before?" she said in a soft, reminiscent tone. She was remembering a time just after the Caretaker had brought _Voyager_ to the Delta Quadrant. "Or didn't Kathryn Janeway and Tuvok, five years ago?" She smiled. Recalling her focus to the present, she said, "I know I'm not the only one who needs rest. We've got everything dangerous taken care of for the moment. We're in no hurry." Standing up decisively from her desk, she announced, "I'm granting the entire crew ten days' shore leave."

She held up a hand, giving Tuvok a half-smile. She knew him well enough to anticipate his next query. "Yes, Tuvok. Including the captain."

-

The crew had gathered back on the planet's surface, where Chakotay and Neelix had arranged a traditional Native American celebration -- _Voyager_ style. With the evening sky and the few dozen small campfires scattered around, the Demon planet's colors were starting to look even warmer and richer than they had during the day. It made a spectacular backdrop for the excited scene.

Tom and Harry had brought hot dogs and marshmallows to roast over the campfires. Janeway decided she'd have to get herself at least one hot dog after she finished addressing the crew.

"Hey, Tabor!" Harry called out enthusiastically as the Bajoran crewman walked by. "Here, you've gotta try one of these!" Harry eagerly held out a hot dog to the surprised Tabor.

"What is it?" Tabor asked, obligingly taking it.

Harry grinned. "It's a hot dog," he explained. "An old Earth treat."

"Everyone," Janeway called, drawing the crew's attention to herself. "If I can have your attention for just a few minutes before we all start celebrating." Everyone quieted down at once and respectfully listened to their captain speak.

"Q has done us a tremendous favor," Janeway said, "but it's also brought up a very serious question. One that I'm sure you've all been thinking about. Now that we're here, do we stay -- or decide to leave again? The original Captain Janeway asked her whole crew if they wanted to be duplicated. Now I'm asking all of _you_ if you want to leave this planet and go to the Alpha Quadrant. If we're going to have any hope of holding this ship together, we can't be divided."

Harry spoke up boldly. "I want to see Earth."

Ensign Jarot nodded in agreement with Harry. "There are so many memories I could share with my people on Betazed," she said.

"I worried at first about whether we'd be abandoning this planet if we left," B'Elanna interjected. "But since we got back, I've been remembering more about the first time we set out for Earth. We didn't abandon the planet. It _wanted_ us to leave."

"That's right," the Doctor agreed. "I remember feeling the exact same way."

Commander Chakotay spoke, his tone soft but his words clearly audible. "If I've gotten one thing from the original Chakotay, it's my love of space exploration."

"Does everyone else agree?" Janeway asked.

There was a general chorus of unanimous assent from the entire crew.

"Then it's settled." Kathryn Janeway couldn't have been more pleased. She would have abided by her crew's decision no matter what it was, but she was very glad to hear that they all felt the same way she did. "After our shore leave we'll get _Voyager_ ready for space-flight, and once we do --" Janeway looked up into the sky, almost as if she could see their destination from where she stood. "We'll set a course for the Alpha Quadrant."

-

Authors' Note: Thanks for reading this! It means a lot to us!

Our main reference resources for "New Heading" are our DVD Voyager series and the Memory Alpha website.

None of the characters in this chapter are strictly OCs. They are all either characters we have seen in the show, names that are canonly stated to belong to a crewmember which we then combined with a photo of an un-named extra from the show, or someone we researched on Memory Alpha's fan-wiki website and found among the canon _Voyager_ crew as a named extra. You can look up every name in this chapter on Memory Alpha to find out who we mean. Ensign Harper is, in this fanfic, the woman who handed B'Elanna the bouquet at her wedding in the episode "Course: Oblivion", and Lieutenant Weiss (whose first name, Rosa, we made up ourselves) is similarly the un-named extra who appeared in a few episodes and was played by a stand-in for Kes' regular actress. That extra can be looked up under "Unnamed _Voyager_ Personnel" as "3.4 Female Science Officer" on Memory Alpha.


End file.
